Snow Crash

Now

Sunny, cool. There was a rare sight for the current season in this part of MoCo this morning, a hard frost which persisted in north-facing areas until close to noon. Following the cold lows, a high layer of broken clouds defied the southerly wind direction to keep temperatures a couple of degrees cooler than yesterday. Highs were 48° at National and Dulles, one degree higher at BWI.

Clouds will be increasing as the blizzard walloping the Front Range of the Rockies heads toward the Great Lakes. As noted in Jason's post below, the SLCB isn't dead, it's just sleeping.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Increasing clouds, cool. Clouds will increase toward morning as lows tonight reach the mid 30s downtown and closer to 30° in the burbclaves. Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy with highs near 51°.

For the outlook through the rest of the week and into the holiday weekend, scroll down to Jason's post below.

ISO Snow II

The WaPo Washington plant climate article cited in Jason's earlier post is consistent with a study, "Climate Change in the U.S. Northeast", published a couple of months ago by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Depending on the level of greenhouse gas emissions, Massachusetts could be passing what used to be DC climatologically by mid-century on its way to the former South Carolina.

Accompanying the plant article on carbon-based page A1 is an article about the lack of snow so far this season in Europe as well. In Moscow, where 5 daily temperature records have already been set this month, street cleaners have put aside their ice axes and are reduced to picking up cigarette butts. Britain's Met Office reports that 2006 may turn out to be the warmest since temperature records began in England almost 350 years ago. A climatologist at the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics in Vienna (the other one) says, "We are currently experiencing the warmest period in the Alpine region in 1,300 years." An EU climate study has found that the current warming already exceeds warming periods in the 10th and 12th centuries.

Meanwhile, snow fans in the Rockies are happy, at least. A blizzard has shut down the United Airlines Denver hub as well as Colorado's 3 interstate highways, I-70, I-25, and I-76. There was a 20-car wreck on I-25 near Colorado Springs; at least 5 were injured. I-80 was also closed from Cheyenne, WY, to Ogallala, NE. Snow totals early this afternoon ranged up to 15" at Telluride, CO. (SUV drivers, please check out the photo in the link above before you try any stunts on the Beltway this winter.)